Taliban leader killed by British revenge strike

A Taliban commander blamed for the death of two British troops in Afghanistan has been killed by helicopter gunners while trying to flee on a motorbike, the Ministry of Defence said today.

Mullah Mansur, who British forces believe organised a suicide attack that killed Sergeant Ben Ross of the Royal Military Police and Gurkha Corporal Kumar Pun last month, was shot by a British Apache's 30- calibre machinegun. He had been cornered in Helmand province yesterday. He is also believed to have been behind another suicide attack last month that killed 13 Afghan police and civilians and a similar blast in March that claimed the lives of nine Afghan policemen and two civilians.

Announcing his death today, Lt Col Nick Richardson, the spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said Mansur had been "one of the most dangerous men in Helmand" and had been killed in a "successful precision strike".

He added: "The attacks he helped plan and execute have probably killed or wounded hundreds of people."